Dirtbag
pitchers ace Cougar bats
By Michael Bower
On-line Forty-Niner
The
Long Beach State baseball team (6-3) used
powerful pitching and explosive offense
to sweep Washington State in convincing
fashion last weekend. The Dirtbags outscored
the Cougars 27-5 in the three-game stretch
at Blair Field.
Abe Alvarez and Jered Weaver are proving
to be untouchable on the mound. Alvarez
added another win to his record by striking
out five and giving up just four hits in
five and one-third innings of work on Friday.
Weaver continued to dominate on the mound
and has now chalked-up 14 consecutive scoreless
innings.
“I can’t say enough about the way those
two guys are pitching,” head coach Mike
Weathers said. “Every time they take the
mound, they give us a good chance at winning.”
In game one on Friday night the offense
of the Dirtbags struck for seven runs while
Alvarez pitched a gem giving up just one
run as the Dirtbags defeated the Cougars
7-1.
The Beach took the lead 1-0 in the third
inning and never looked back. The Beach
broke the game open in the fourth inning,
scoring three more runs highlighted by the
Cougars’ Derek Bruce’s two throwing errors.
Chuck Sindlinger continued to be hot for
the Dirtbags driving in two runs in the
eighth inning before Steve Velazco’s RBI
single made the score 7-1.
Alvarez and Bo Ashabraner combined to shutdown
the offense of the Cougars which had just
four hits on the night.
On Saturday the Dirtbags shutout the Cougars
11-0. Weaver had another outstanding performance
on the mound pitching six and two-third
shutout innings while Tim Hutting had two
hits and 4 RBIs to lead the offense.
After losing his first game of the year,
Weaver has nearly pitched perfect. WSU was
his latest victim of shutout baseball as
they managed just four hits off the rightie.
The offense of the Dirtbags sent 13 players
to the plate and scored seven runs in the
sixth which led to Cougars’ Aaron Mackenzie
getting yanked. Adam Heether smashed a three-run
double after Hutting smacked a bases loaded
triple and The Beach had a comfortable 10-0
lead.
The Dirtbags went on to complete the sweep
of the Cougars on Sunday getting another
solid outing from its pitching staff and
great hitting by Josh Buhagiar who went
2-for-4 with four RBIs to lead the Dirtbags
to a 9-4 victory.
The Dirtbags, still in search of a third
pitcher, had five pitchers throw in Sunday’s
game. Matt Paz, coming off Tommy John surgery,
pitched two and two-thirds innings giving
up one run on two hits to pick up his first
win of the year in just his second outing.
Scott Shoemaker started the game going the
first three and one-third innings giving
up four hits and one unearned run for the
Dirtbags. Cesar Ramos, Neil Jamison and
Brian Anderson also pitched for the Dirtbags.
The closest WSU came in the game was in
the fifth inning when the Cougars tied the
game 2-2 with a RBI single from Zapper McGrath.
The Dirtbags didn’t have trouble putting
runs on the scoreboard though as the team
batted around in the eighth inning and scored
four runs to take a commanding 9-2 lead.
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